Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) is fast tracking delegates in Scotland’s capital city with travel cards for airport transfersand other journeys on Edinburgh Trams and Lothian Buses. The venue is promoting ‘Ridacard’ to professional event managers and this week hundreds of delegates attending a major pharmaceutical conference in the city will use the prepaid travel cards for the first time.
Visiting professional event manager, Hayley Bridgman of Ashfield Meetings and Events said: “Integrated public transport systems are highly prized and well used by international conference delegates who want to make the most of their time in a capital city that many will be visiting for the first time”.
EICC Corporate Sales Specialist, Ekaterina Alison said: “International meetings bring thousands of business tourists to Edinburgh and increasingly organisers are concerned to build public transport into the programme which is always the best environmental option”.
Edinburgh Trams operate a 14km route between York Place in the city centre and Edinburgh Airport, roughly every 10 minutes. Each tram vehicle can accommodate 250 people at any one time and are 100% wheelchair accessible. Along the route are 15 tram stops, connecting passengers with a bus network of over 70 routes, railway stations and popular leisure and business destinations. Travelling from the airport to the city centre takes approximately 35 minutes.
Scotland’s capital city of Edinburgh is served by daily direct flights from 85 European cities and from New York, Chicago and Philadelphia in the United States. Middle Eastern routes include daily services from the Qatari capital, Doha and from 2015, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Prime Minister David Cameron has completed his cabinet reshuffle and he has replaced Justine Greening as Transport Minister .
Greening is MP for Roehampton & Southfields, directly under the airport’s flight path , and her mission was to stop the development of a third runway at Heathrow Airport .In the end she was only able to prevent the government giving the green light in this parliament.
The question is now not when but how the Conservatives do a massive a u-turn on the third runway. It looks as if they want another enquiry to delay the decision until after the next election.
Patrick McLoughlin, who will take over as transport secretary, has declared he has an “open mind” on the expansion of Britain’s only hub airport, joining chancellor George Osborne in a cabinet which increasingly favours a third runway, with the business case trumping environmental concerns.
While the party will suffer in seats close to the airport, they have calculated the economic recovery must take precedence.
The business community has been baying for additional capacity to connect to growing markets in Asia and South America for years, and it now seems certain the Conservatives will include support for a third runway in their manifesto for the 2015 election.
Operating Heathrow as a ‘mixed-mode’ airport would increase capacity by as much as a quarter, but would again breach noise restrictions as planes approach from different directions.
Short-haul flights could also be barred from precious Heathrow landing slots, allowing only long-haul traffic to use limited resources. This might work in the short-term but is no solution.
Gatwick could be expanded, or even Stansted, with second runways at either. But, in reality, the UK can maintain only one hub airport.
‘Heathwick’ – a high-speed rail link between Gatwick and Heathrow – was swiftly rejected last year after being put forward by civil servants.
This would leave only Boris’s fantasy island in the Thames.
Not only is the planned location in one of the most congested flight paths in Europe, on the approach to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, that path covers five separate Special Protection Areas packed with wildlife.
Environmentalists could delay the project for years, while birds would also be hazardous to planes.
Funding for the £40 billion project is also far from assured, with some even suggesting a levy on planes landing at Heathrow could be imposed: a hard sell to British Airways, which would effectively be asked to pay for the demolition of its established base.
As for the transport connections? After the years it took to have Crossrail approved, it is hard to imagine Boris Island and its required infrastructure being approved by 2050, if ever.
Brexit vote is a possibility in EU referendum on 23rd June 2016. The United Kingdom votes to either stay in the European Union or to leave it on 23rd June 2016 . Bitter divisons in the Conservative and Labour parties have been exposed in the debate leading up to the vote
Outspoken as always, leading Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson rose to the challenge earlier, with a statement from the mayor exclaiming: “The third runway would mean more traffic, more noise, more pollution – and a serious reduction in the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of people.
“We will fight this all the way. Even if a third runway was built, it would not do the job of meeting Britain’s needs.
“If we are to remain Europe’s premier business hub we need a new four-runway airport, preferably to the east of London, that addresses the problem of aviation capacity before it is too late, and business is driven into the arms of our European competitors.”
From the point of view of airports in Scotland like Edinburgh and Glasgow, any development which brings more passengers into Britain would be a good thing as a proportion of those flyers will terminate their journey in Scotland.
Edinburgh Airport is the busiest airport in Scotland
Most business and private travellers need a transfer to their final destination . Airport taxis Edinburgh offers a professional , reliable service. Freephone 0800-0029165 for more information and bookings or contact us online . Bookings normally require 24 hours notice but please enquire for late bookings.
Services include –
Airport transfers Glasgow
Airport transfers Perth
Airport transfers Linlithgow
Airport transfers Stirling
Airport transfers St Andrews
Airport transfers Falkirk
Business customers can book up to 3 months in advance and prepay by credit card if required. A credit card receipt will be provided to the customer when he picks up his taxi or it can be sent by post in advance. Passengers are picked up at the pre-booked taxis pick-up point on the right hand side of the multi-storey car park outside the terminal. The company transfers customers throughout Scotland with a 24 hour service. For more information and bookings phone 07576-127097 24 hours.
